Over the past decade, author Peter Potterfield has hiked more than 10,000 miles over six continents to research his definitive list of the best hiking trails in the world. He picks the Long Range Traverse trail from Western Brook Pond to Gros Morne Mountain in Newfoundland as one of his top 15 next to the likes of Petra, Tasmania and Patagonia.

Parks Canada is celebrating it’s groundbreaking 100-year anniversary this summer and there will be special events to mark the occassion at the various historic and scenic sites across Newfoundland and Labrador. That means lots of interesting things to see and do, all summer long, at some of the most beautiful and fascinating areas in the province. Read on for event info...

If you find yourself near Gros Morne National Park over the next couple of weeks, or if you’re simply in need of some creative inspiration, be sure to check out the Trails, Tales and Tunes Festival, May 14th to 28th.

Join us in Western Newfoundland to celebrate the arrival of spring through a series of festivals that capture the essence of what is truly unique in each part of the region at this beautiful time of year.

Each festival aims to take advantage of the fresh spring weather in the great outdoors. By day, join us on the many planned walks and hikes, interspersed with a program of informative talks and other learning opportunities. At the end of the day, relax with friends and family in the presence of the best local artists, musicians, and entertainers at the many social evenings and kitchen parties.

If you happen to be near the beautiful Codroy Valley region between May 27th and June 5th, be sure to visit the Feather & Folk Festival. Enjoy expertly guided interpretative activities, then relax in the evenings with traditional food and local entertainment.

Here in NL, we're proud to lay claim to a deep storytelling culture, and on Tuesday, the St. John's Storytelling Festival officially kicked off. The festival is running for 8 days, so you still have time to hear (and maybe tell) a few tales.

Fogo Island's incredible Long Studio has been short listed for Building of the Year by ArchDaily.com, the most visited architecture website in the world. This is huge, and the Long Studio needs even more votes to take the big prize, so follow the link on the next page and help put Fogo, NL and Canada on the map. You never know, you might win too. There's an iPad up for grabs for voters!

Great news for Gander and Central Newfoundland today. Air Canada just announced a non-stop, daily, direct flight between Toronto and Gander International Airport, starting June 18th.

"We are pleased to offer our customers direct non-stop Gander-Toronto service, to complement existing Gander services to Halifax, St. John's, and Goose Bay," said Marcel Forget, Air Canada's Vice President, Network Planning. "Travellers will enjoy the only non-stop service between Gander and our major hub Toronto with convenient connections throughout Canada, and the U.S."

"This flight will provide direct access to Air Canada's Toronto hub," said Gary Vey, President and CEO of the Gander International Airport Authority. "For local residents and industry, it means better connectivity to Air Canada's expansive global network."

Let's hear it for our own The Once and Amelia Curran, who swept up some sweet wins at the Canadian Folk Music Awards over the weekend! Geraldine Hollett, Phil Churchill and Andrew Dale of The Once won in both the traditional album and new/emerging artist of the year categories. Juno-awarded Amelia Curran won solo artist of the year.

With a new year comes new Tourism TV! Watch ‘Half Hour’ and ‘500 Years,’ the latest chapters in the continuing Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism story. In Half Hour, we look at the unique half an hour time difference here in NL. In 500 Years, we celebrate the spirit of our capital city, St. John’s, which is one of the oldest in North America, but one of the youngest at heart.

One of the best places to see the fall colours is in the Humber Valley, and the best way to see them up close is to take a fall hike.

It is no surprise then that The Old Man in the Mountain Hike is one of the most popular of those developed by the International Appalachian Trail in Newfoundland (IATNL). It has fabulous views of the Humber River and Humber Canyon and the vistas are all the more beautiful in the fall when the brilliant colours of changing leaves intermingle with the coniferous greens.

The only known North American colony of Manx Shearwaters, a nocturnal seabird, has been declared a Provisional Ecological Reserve. The colony, about 100 birds on Middle Island off the coast of the Burin Peninsula near Lawn, now falls under the protection of the Lawn Islands Archipelago Provisional Ecological Reserve.

The birds live in burrows four feet deep and can live for 50 years. Consultations on making the reserve permanent will be held in the near future. Thousands of seabirds nest on Middle Island, Offer Island, and Columbier Islands, including Arctic terns, great black-backed gulls and black-legged kittiwakes.

The Western Brook Pond fjord in Gros Morne National Park is the Park’s largest lake and the backdrop for a spectacular scenic boat tour. Once open to the ocean, this 16-km lake with a depth of 165m is home to Atlantic salmon, brook trout and Arctic char, as well as an unusual colony of cliff nesting gulls.

The boat tour can be reached via Route 430, 27 km north of Rocky Harbour. From the parking lot, there is a pleasant 45-minute walk to the dock. The trail carries you over the fragile coastal plain, once located below sea level. Here, examine a variety of plant life, scan for wildlife sightings or view the interpretive panels located along the trail.

Western Newfoundland offers some of the best snowmobiling in all of Eastern Canada and the Lewis Hills is an especially great spot to sled. The “hills” themselves are located approximately 18 km north of Stephenville and 27 km southwest of Corner Brook and at 814m (2,671ft) the Cabox is the island of Newfoundland’s highest point.

As you can see from the video you can see breathtaking scenery and a variety of wildlife in the backcountry. The Lewis Hills terrain is inviting to a novice rider but offers everything an expert rider would need.

Dark humour is the silver lining of Newfoundland and Labrador’s colonial history. Those early European settlers were the original survivors. Pirates, unpredictable weather, buccaneers disguised as governors, hard labour, wars, privation - all easy targets for the wits and wags who laughed and struggled onward through the fog of mercantile exploitation and inept colonial administration. Laughing in the face of danger may seem unseemly, but when the alternative is tears, you might as well laugh. And that’s been our motto ever since.

That tradition lives on in the narrow lanes of Trinity, Trinity Bay, where each summer actors with Rising Tide Theatre take history to the people with the New Founde Lande Trinity Pageant, the anchor event of the Seasons in the Bight Festival.

With over 130 root cellars – small storage spaces skillfully built into the hillsides – Elliston has an unusual heritage. Important to many in rural Newfoundland, the root cellars kept vegetables cool, yet frost- free and edible during the long winter months.

It’s late October, 1887. The few meagre crops eked out during the short summer months are in and the frost is quickly coming. God help the family that doesn’t have a proper root cellar!

- Anonymous Bird Island Cove Resident (now Elliston).

As remote as Newfoundland and Labrador probably seemed to some back in the 1800s, invention and know-how were definitely up to snuff!